


They Say Spring Will Come

by K1mHeechu1



Series: Before Our Spring (Or FS Soulmate!AUs) [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF, Sports RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Death, Depression, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Soulmates, death ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-07 02:16:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16399496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K1mHeechu1/pseuds/K1mHeechu1
Summary: Two things he was sure about: Hanyu Yuzuru was destined for great things, and for that reason, his soulmate would be the greatest person ever.Alternatively: The original ending to When Spring Comes To Me Too





	They Say Spring Will Come

**Author's Note:**

> This is Version 1 of the original story.
> 
> No Shomas were hurt while making this story.

Two things he was sure about: Hanyu Yuzuru was destined for great things, and for that reason, his soulmate would be the greatest person ever.

He was used to dreaming about all the people that he may get as a soulmate.

When he was 4, the standard was Ryusei, the older kid that lived five houses away from him, all eye smiles and really smart. So smart, he had skipped a couple grades. Hanyu Yuzuru’s soulmate would surely be someone extremely intelligent and successful.

When he was 11, the standard was Evgeni Plushenko. He was amazed at the Russian skater as he saw him soar and win an Olympic Gold Medal. All grace, big performances and big jumps. Surely, Hanyu Yuzuru’s soulmate would be an Olympic Gold Medallist, or at least a World Champion. Yuzuru planned to win at least 2 Olympic Golds, and wouldn’t it be embarrassing if his soulmate was mediocre… or worse, what if his soulmate didn’t skate?! Well, he’d forgive his soulmate for not being a skater only if HE had at least been successful in his chosen career path. And yes, he did say HE. His soulmate wouldn’t be a girl. That he knew for sure.

Once he started competing internationally, he would look around at the skaters that stood on the podium, sizing them as competitions and as possible soulmates. No one was quite right. Too short, too tall, too serious, too mediocre. His mum tended to scold him for that way of though, but he couldn’t help it. He hoped his soulmate was a figure skater, and as such, he had to analyse all figure skaters he knew to see who would be a good fit for him. And it wasn’t all bad, his want to at least talk to all male skaters at least made him meet people, and he wasn’t the most sociable person out there, so that surely had to be a good side of his plan, right?

Anyway, he wouldn’t actually know who his soulmate was until he turned 24, that was the rule.

Everyone found who their soulmate was at 24, unless their soulmate was dead. You went to sleep the night of your birthday and woke up in a place of significance for you and your soulmate had 24 hours in that dream to be together. That was especially useful for people that hadn’t already met their soulmate in real life, as they’d be able to exchange information and plan to meet in the future.

It didn’t matter if your soulmate was younger than you and hadn’t turned 24 yet, or if they had turned 24 years ago, the dream was always time wrapped, which allowed for soulmates to have the same dream even if it was years apart.

The only exception to this rule where people that were born without soulmates, or people whose soulmates had died before either of them had turned 24. Those people wouldn’t have the dream at all, for their soulmate had never reached the needed age to have the dream, nor would they ever reach it.

When he was 16, his world was shaken upside down.

He saw the ice beneath his feet shatter and fly in all different directions.

He saw the roof over his head shake and break and fall.

He run as debris fell around him, blades still on his feet, a scream stuck on his throat. He grabbed his bag instinctively, knowing that it would be stupid to survive a building falling apart but die of an asthma attack as he made it out.

He became desperate to flee even further, to find his family and go to a safe place as he heard the tsunami warning ringing on the streets of the already destroyed city.

He felt the warm arms and tears of him mum surrounding him as he collapsed into her arms, crying and on the verge of an attack as he struggled to normalise his breathing.

At one point, as he lay on his back on a cold school gymnasium, he mentally asked his soulmate for forgiveness, in case he didn’t actually make it out of this mess alive, and left the other person alone to never have a dream, because he’d never turn 24 if he died in that cold, devastated wasteland that had once been a city, his beautiful hometown, now flooded and ripped apart by nature.

He survived.

Some days he wished he hadn’t.

He sometimes still wished he hadn’t.

 

He had only seen the other skater a couple times. They hadn’t ever been in Juniors together, because the other skater had started competing on the Senior level in 2006, so he hadn’t had the chance to interact with him. He knew the skater was Spanish, a weird nation for a figure skater, considering it was all sun and beach and football.

He had seen the other skater’s program at the Cup of Russia and previously, so much raw power and potential, but lack of serious training and technique made him inconsistent and mediocre at best.

But when he saw him again the next year at the same event it was as if he was a completely different skater. He learned his name after he saw his quad Salchow.

Javier Fernandez. Used to train under Morozov and had only been training under Brian Orser for a few months. Yuzuru could see those few months had made all the difference in the world. Fernandez was still inconsistent, but now he could see the full potential and he knew Fernandez would be good, great even. And Brian Orser had done that. Brian Orser had awakened Fernandez potential.

When he was 17, he took the decision to leave Japan.

He knew he, no matter what great results he had gotten that season, needed to change coaches if he wanted to be the best. And he knew exactly who he needed as a coach.

When the Japanese Federation asked him why he wanted Brian Orser as a coach, he told half of the truth.

“I want to be the best, and I know Brian Orser will help me be the best. He led Kim Yuna to an Olympic Gold Medal, and he will lead me to one as well.”

When he met with Brian Orser, he told the other half of the truth:

“I want to train with Fernandez. I want his quad Sal.”

He was in Toronto less than a month later, standing in front of what would be his skating home for the future two years, at least.

He was scared.

His mum was standing next to him, talking English when he didn’t understand, which was basically 99% of the time, and translating what needed to be translated.

Coach Wilson - “Call us Brian and Tracy, Yuzuru. Everyone here does”- was showing them around the Cricket club.

The went to the rink, and Yuzuru’s attention was lost instantly.

Javier Fernandez was on the ice.

There was something about the older skater that just called out to him. His confidence on the ice, which had gotten so much better since he had come to Toronto, his posture… and, he had to be honest, how incredibly handsome the older man was.

He gasped when the other man skated past them and launched himself into a perfect quad Salchow, landing it with a soft knee and a small noise, and quickly skating back to Brian, who was standing on the side, to hear directions.

Seeing the jump that had begun it all from so close confirmed what he thought.

Javier Fernandez would be a powerful rival in the future, and Yuzuru would be close by to work hard and become better than the older man.

He would win. He was convinced.

 

The thing he had not expected was the fact that the older skater would be so likeable.

To be honest, Yuzuru had mentally prepared himself for a second Plushenko/Yagudin type of rivalry, but Javier had shattered that expectation from the first time they talked.

Javier had instantly shaken Yuzuru’s hand, and started talking with him, slowing down and simplifying his word choices when he saw that Yuzuru’s English level was worse than bad.

But surprisingly, they understood the other.

Yuzuru understood Javier’s Spanish accented English better than he understood native English speakers, and Javier could always translate what Yuzuru meant when his words where not helping, and he couldn’t get his point across.

They never met outside of the club, but inside its walls, people had begun joking that, if you wanted to find Javi, all you needed to do was find Yuzu, and vice versa, because the two would do everything together while training.

And Yuzuru had started to develop a crush towards the older skater. It was impossible not to get a crush on him, with his big eyes, soft smile and handsome face, his kindness and louder than life personality.

But Yuzuru would never do anything about it. He would get rid of the crush because nothing would happen. Nothing could happen. Because he didn’t know who his soulmate was, and yes, there was a chance that it could be Javier, but there was also a bigger chance that it would not be Javier, and he didn’t want to break his own heart by hoping.

 

When he was 18, he finished second in the GPF, and he got his first Japanese National’s Gold Medal, and a silver in 4CC, and he finished off podium at Worlds, but he was okay. The next year would be better, the next year he would win everything. He promised himself.

 

He still dreamt of his perfect soulmate.

His dreams where always tinted gold, and warm big arms would wrap around his waist, brown eyes staring into his lovingly.

But they were only dreams.

 

When he was 19, the season was almost perfect. He had a gold medal from the Grand Prix Final -silver on both GP qualifiers, he still was disappointed he hadn’t skated well enough for gold-, and on Japanese Nationals once more.

 

And then he won a gold medal at the Olympics.

He sat in his room at the Olympic villa, hands tightly wrapped around the medal, as if it would disappear if he put it down.

He still couldn’t believe it.

He still couldn’t believe that three years ago, he thought he would die buried under rubble and water and fear, that he would never skate again, that life would never be normal again.

And today he was sitting on a bed in Russia, holding a Gold Medal he had won.

Most skaters would consider retirement after an Olympic gold. Leave at the top, what better way to go out with a bang?

But he was 19.

He had to make his mum proud. She had abandoned her own life to move to the other end of the world for him.

He had to make him dad and sister proud. He had selfishly ripped their family apart to better his skating career.

He had to make Sendai proud. He had survived when so many people worth more than him had perished. He had left when so many people would never be able to leave… or live.

He had to make Japan proud. They had supported him, and cheered for him, and deposited their hopes on him, he couldn’t let that go to waste.

He had to make his soulmate proud. He had cowardly left home instead of staying to help, decided to continue skating even if it ripped his family in half, and costed a lot of money, and selfishly desired more, so he needed to make sure he’d be worth it. That he would deserve his soulmate’s love. That he wouldn’t be a disappointment.

His determination won him a World Championship to go with that Olympic gold.

 

 

When he was 19 he thought his world was ending again, but from the pain.

He could only remember the Cup of China signs pasted to the sides of the rink, warming up for his free program, skating backwards, turning around and then… nothing.

He had no recollection of things for at least a couple of minutes.

The next thing he remembers is having difficulty to breath, and everything hurting. His ankles hurt, his chin burned, and his head was killing him.

And on top of that, he could feel the blood running down his face.

With help from the emergency staff he got up and skated to the boards where he could see a pale Brian waiting for him.

He exited the ice, and then everything became a blur once again. He could feel hands touching his legs and chest, possibly checking for broken bones. He could also feel hands on his head and face, and smell the antiseptic, but it was as if everything was underwater.

Then, the words that made him pay attention.

“He should withdraw.”

He lifted his head.

“I’m skating.”

Kikuchi looked troubled.

“I’m skating” He repeated, this time in English.

Now it was Brian that looked troubled.

“Yuzu…”

“I did well in short. I need ok free. I can do it. I have to do it.”

It took some fighting, but they gave in.

He skated out, warmed up, and skated his program.

It was a disaster. Every time he fell, felt like the whole arena was falling on top of him. His head was killing him. But he got up and went on.

Somehow, he got a silver medal.

He was half helped, half dragged out of the scrutiny of the public, and everything went to hell the second he was out of the public eye. His ears kept ringing, his vision was blurry, and he had difficulty keeping his balance even after someone had removed his skates.

He couldn’t move for days afterwards, had to be taken everywhere on a wheelchair, and lifting his arm felt like trying to push a mountain, but he fought through it, someone made it through NHK and barely squeezed into the GPF.

It was worth it. Javier had promised to take him sightseeing in Barcelona if they both got to the finals, and he wasn’t missing it for anything in the world.

It may possibly be one of the last times he would be able to hang out alone with him outside of the Cricket, and he would take advantage of it.

 

Javier turned to watch Yuzuru as he tipped his face back, closing his eyes as he felt the sun hitting his skin.

They were sitting in one of the many parks they had visited that day while sightseeing, just resting and enjoying the beautiful, sunny day.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Javier suddenly asked.

“Hmm…I just thinking of nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense if it worries you.”

“Javi, what you think about soulmate?”

“Well, I’ve never been particularly interested in soulmates, as you know” Yuzuru nodded. Javier had always made it known when he dated girls, and that he didn’t think waiting for his soulmate to date was important. “I think my soulmate will understand the fact that I dated people before them and will love me regardless. After all, they are supposed to be perfect for me. What about you?”

“I always wanted soulmate. Since I little, always dream of soulmate. Always want to make soulmate proud. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Him? How are you so sure your soulmate will be a man?”

“I know. It be man. Cannot be girl, I never like girl, only men.”

They stayed in silence for a little while.

“I’ve only ever dater women. Always women. But somehow, I have a hunch my soulmate may be a man too.”

“What hunch?”

“Hunch is like… a feeling. I feel inside that my soulmate might be male. And I’m totally okay with that. I’ve never been with a man, but I’d be okay with adapting for them.”

Yuzuru stayed quiet and tipped his head back again.

He was a little dizzy, head feeling like it was full of cotton balls most of the time, and he was really starting to get tired, but he wouldn’t say anything.

He couldn’t miss the rest of their day together for a silly headache.

He couldn’t say that for the last couple of years, Javier’s face appeared in his mind every single time he pictured his soulmate.

He still hadn’t managed to get rid of his feelings for his rinkmate.

 

 

Javier Fernandez woke up on the morning of his 24th birthday, and his eyes immediately pooled with tears. He sat up, chest thigh and head spinning.

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep.

The next thing he remembered was opening his eyes moments ago.

There had been no soulmate waiting for him.

His heart panged, and he brought a hand to where it was, kneading the spot to try and ease the pain.

Something wasn’t right.

He just had a hunch something wasn’t right.

He grabbed his phone, opening the messages, and scanned them until he saw the person he was looking for.

From: Yuzu

Happy Birthday Javi!

You must tell me all about soulmate when you come

Wish me luck for FS today!!

 ⊂( ◜◒◝ )⊃

 

His message made him smile.

 

He closed his eyes for a second, wishing the painful feeling of knowing he wasn’t Yuzuru’s soulmate away.

 

He closed the app, opening Twitter instead, and his blood froze as he saw his mentions and his timeline.

 

Cerebral contusion, they said.

Yuzuru had actually sustained a head injury that had gone undetected in the collision at the Cup of China, and one of the falls at the World Team Trophy made it worst.

He passed away peacefully, the doctors said.

Didn’t feel a thing.

That was a good.

He was finally able to be the one in peace, while the entire world collapsed around everyone else.

 

 

He was wearing the suit he always had for banquets. A black generic suit, with a generic white shirt, and a generic black tie.

He walked towards the front, biting his lips as he reached his family.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, freezing when Yumi hugged him tightly for the first time ever, tears still streaming down her face.

“He loved Javi so much. So, so much.” Yumi said, and quickly used her kimono’s sleeve to dry Javier’s tears when they started falling.

“I was in love with him.” He muttered, trying to stop his tears.

“He was in love with Javi too. Mother knows these things.” Yumi smiled sadly. “I so sure Yuzu was Javi soulmate.”

“I think he was.” Yumi’s eyes widened. “I never got my dream.”

“You like another son, okay? Always welcome here- The one Yuzu loved and cherished. I proud of him for loving good man like you.”

 

 

 

 

When he was 26, Javier Fernandez won an Olympic Gold Medal.

He donated all the prize money to Sendai.

He dedicated his medal to his soulmate.

 

When he was 94, Javier Fernandez died a peaceful death.

He was surrounded by his grand-nieces and nephews.

He had never dated again. Never gotten married. Never had children.

He joked that his students were his kids- and gave them his all, raising generation upon generation of Olympians and elite skaters.

He joked that his sisters had enough children for all of them.

Laura and Saya rolled their eyes at his comments.

Truth was, he never even considered the thought of raising a family without Yuzuru.

 

When he was 94, Javier Fernandez opened his eyes, looking around and catching his reflection on the ice.

He looked 24.

“What took you so long? I wait for Javi for ages. 70 years is long time in ice rink alone”

He took one look at that skinny body and that cheeky smile and started sobbing.

_He was home._


End file.
